DESCRIPTION (from application?s abstract): This core grant application requests support for the Boston University Hearing Research Center?s Sound Field Laboratory (SFL) facility. The SFL is a multiuser, multipurpose research space that is being developed to provide a controlled and calibrated reverberant environment for auditory and acoustics research. Since the SFL was established in 1997, it has served as the site of a number of funded research studies and student projects several of which have resulted in work that has been/will be published in peer-reviewed journals and have formed the preliminary studies for NIH/NIDCD and other grant applications. The support that is requested will develop and sustain the infrastructure of the SFL by providing technical and administrative services for SFL users and will foster collaborative, interdisciplinary research by BUHRC members, students and affiliates. The multiuser, multipurpose nature of the SFL avoids duplication of facilities and support services resulting in a more cost-effective approach to the study of issues related to spatial and binaural hearing and to the reception of signals in realistic multisource environments. The research plan contains a description of the projects that are underway or planned using the SFL and how the SFL is a unique and essential resource for sustaining those research efforts.